Classic Darkroom

[24x30]

I'm curious about how many of you still working in a classic darkroom (with enlarger etc. ...)?

/rudi

[rover]

I don't have a darkroom, but I have started to develop my own B&W film. I think I will do a little more of that as my Holga arrived yesterday and I can't see spoiling the artistic experience of that camera by having the film developed by a pro.

[Brian Sweeney]

I have my darkroom setup, enlarger, film drier, tanks, etc that I gor when I was 16, 30 years ago. I need to get it setup again, just need the time.

[pvdhaar]

Don't have a darkroom, but followed a course when in school (about a quarter century ago or so). I think it's an invaluable experience. But it also showed that I won't ever set one up myself. Apart from my objection that has to do with the chemicals --I'd never forgive myself if the kids would get harmed by them--, I rather spend time taking new pictures..

[denishr]

I have one - albeit very small. And I don't use it as often as I'd like. But, it comes in handy for B&W negative development, which I do quite frequently.
I'm about to get on loan a nice Durst 35mm enlarger, so hopefully my Leica negs will really shine when printed on that one

[GeneW]

Mine's packed away in the basement. Nice Durst enlarger with El Nikkor and Schneider Rodagon enlarging lenses for 35mm and 6x6, Saunders 4-blade easel and Durst darkroom timer. Lovely gear, but I don't miss using it a bit. I prefer a good scanner.

Gene

[rick oleson]

I've been without mine since buying a basementless house in 1998. But this August my last daughter went off to college, and last weekend I began a project to turn the kids' bathroom into a darkroom. Soon I'll be back on the road, with dozens of rolls of developed but unprinted black & white film backed up and waiting.....

=

[svwa]

I use my bathroom as darkroom. Has a table in there with a permanent placed Meopta 6a Meograde enlarger, El-Nikkor 63 mm lens (just-perfekt for both 135 film and 120 film) and an el-timer.
It is still the same "wonder" to see the contours of the picture gradually show up in the developer. No computer or photoshop-program in the world can replace that, for me.

[sfaust]

I had a full darkroom in the past (way past). I enjoyed it quite a bit. My current darkroom is a dry darkroom, scanner, and high quality printer.

I don't want to get involved in developing film, but hae been toying with the idea of getting an enlarger setup for MF or 4x5. I'd enjoy the print making, but find film developing just tedious and would rather skip that step. So I am thinking of sending out the film for developing, scanning and inkjet printing most, but using the enlarger for the keepers to make larger prints. At least thats my toughts at the moment.

[FrankS]

I'm about he luckiest guy in the world. I have a darkroom set up in a spare bedroom upstairs in my house beside the bathroom. I ran plumbing through the shared wall and have a large 3 by 5" darkroom sink. There is a work table beside the sink that holds the trays when I'm developing. (The washing tray is in the sink.) On the other side I've built storage cabinets where my 4by5 Besseler and 6by6 Durst enlargers sit. Dozens of cameras are stored on shelves and in the room's closet with built-in shelves. I've got string strung zig-zag across the ceiling to hang wet prints. There is some household storage in the room as well but still, it's pretty ideal. A darkroom, two healthy kids, an attractive wife, and 2 vintage BMW motorcycles in the garage - I'm one lucky guy!

[GermanB]

I don't have a darkroom but I develop my own B&W film in an auxiliary bathroom, for the next year I'm plannig to get an enlarger and setup a small darkroom when I move to my new apartment.

[Film dino]

Used a club (remember those?) darkroom years ago; then processed my own Plus-X/ Tri-X & sometimes slide film at home but didn't do any printing.
Now I get the lab to process the & get the negs/positives back in an uncut roll, for scanning. Need to get a decent printer for digital output & learn how to make decent prints!

[Rodinal Addict]

I used to have a setup in college, actually sold some B&W prints, and did work for an Opthalmologist, developed shots of the eye from his fundus camera. Then along came four kids, (the two oldest in college now), having to make a living, etc. I'm looking for time now to develop some b&w film, then scan and print. The old "soup and scan" method. I greatly value and am inspired by you guys' experience.

[MP Guy]

I added one moreoption to the list.

[Solinar]

The classic darkroom is really the hook that has got my interest in photography rolling.

Since the closing of a former darkroom space, I've set up two easy to store kits.

One kit is for processing film, which requires only a bathroom counter to set up. It stores in a styrofoam chest.

For prints, I've built a couple of rolling cabinets. The enlarger and developing trays for prints are set up on different carts that can be wheeled in and out of a large walk-in closet. I switched to Nova slot processors about a year ago and gained some much appreciated space that way.

The dry darkroom beckons as I don't enjoy printing with RA-4 color chemistry at home. At the mininum I want to be able to scan, then format, before having a print made on a Frontier. I still do a little printing with panalure when th exposure is such that I want to burn or dodge portions of an image.

[Roman]

In my old apartment (shared with 3 students) my darkroom was underneath my bed (OK, it was a high-rise bed standing about 2 m off the ground - somehow you have to use the vertical space in a 3.5 m high room that has not that much floor space...).
Just moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend, and here I want to use the kitchen - got a corner where I can set up the enlarger permanently, and I guess it is much more convenient than always having to carry your prints to the bathromm for the final wash...
BTW, darkroom-work for me is at leats 50% of the fun in photography!

Roman

[Kin Lau]

It's not quite "rarely" for me, but "frequently" isn't right either. I develop own BW, and have mostly scanned it so far. Then once in a while, closer to rarely than frequently, I setup my "suitcase" enlarger in the bathroom and do some _real_ darkroom work. I also have a 6x6 enlarger, but I haven't even gotten around to shooting some 120 in BW yet (1/2 way thru a roll in my Moskva 5).

[Honu-Hugger]

I would have split my vote between "rarely" and "frequently," but then after deciding not to kid myself "rarely" became the honest answer with "frequently" being the fantasy. Along with my own setup now my Dad is threatening to give me his darkroom gear -- how do I refuse and yet where do I put it?

D2

[24x30]

for me, the new option is the same, than having no classic darkroom. I asked especially for classic, because I expect, that everybody in this forum will have a digital 'darkroom' at home/work.

The numbers so far, are like I expected them to be.

/rudi

[24x30]

there is no need to be exact at the 'frequency'. The difference in my opinion is, to use it sometimes, and the number is getting smaller (direction digital darkroom). I made my cross at frequently, because I do between 1 and 8 Sessions per month.

Maybe I should have given a better description ... but my english is not good enough for extensive conversation, sorry.

I want just hear from you that my darkroom and I are not exotic ;-). (just a joke, no diskussions about analog vs. digital, please.)

/rudi

[CleverName]

I just started learning how to make my own prints. Once the class is over I won't have access to the darkroom unless I take another class. (which I probably will). I plan on doing my own developing as soon as my film tank arrives. I was inspired by everyone here who said it's real easy.

[Honu-Hugger]

Rudi,
I think you did a great job on the poll and the questions were fine. I have heard from photographers that hate the smell of the chemicals and in short almost everything about the "classic" darkroom -- they love having the digital choice. I am just the opposite: I love the slower pace, the process of the development, the chemicals and every aspect of it. However, with PhotoShop getting better and better and with printer quality improving as it has, it is difficult for me to justify the time it takes in the "real" darkroom as often as I would like. Thank you for taking the time to put this together, the results are interesting.

D2

[g0tr00t]

Durst M301 in my spare bathroom. Love it. Nice cramped quarters, no vents and a toilet. What more can one ask for....

[jlw]

My 'classic' darkroom is in a utility closet, all set up and ready to go. However, I usually wind up spending most of the time I can devote to photography to working with digital images instead.

This seems fine until I compare the prints I make now on my state-of-the-art Epson R800 printer to the ones I used to make in my modestly equipped 'wet' darkroom. The 'wet' prints are so much better that it makes me sick. I'd chuck digital in a heartbeat if it weren't for the fact that I do most of my photography for other people, and those people like the convenience and low upfront cost of digital shots.

[HBC]

I have aset up in my spare bathroom. A c-700 omega wich will print up to 6x7 negs, for my 4x5 I can always set up a Bessler 45 mxr a lot bigger,I also develop all of my b&w negs much cheaper and faster results. I do scan my negs and work them in photoshopm but try to stick to the traditional darkroom techniques, dodge and burn, contrast control etc.